Prevention of Violent Extremism Through Education and Internet - UNESCO contributed to the High-Level International Conference

3-4 May 2018, Dushanbe -A two-day High-level International Conference on "Countering Terrorism and Preventing Violent Extremism” was held in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.

The Government of Tajikistan, in cooperation with the United Nations, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the European Union (EU), organized the conference.

In 2015, as a part of the Sustainable Development Agenda, the international community committed to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all by 2030. The adoption of Sustainable Development Goal 4, and in particular its target 4.7, provided a new impetus to UNESCO to strengthen its efforts on prevention of violent extremism through education.

The UNESCO Almaty Cluster Office stressed the importance of rethinking how to engage young people to fight extremism, especially through education and internet.

It highlighted that: “education - whether formal or non-formal - that empowers the youth is an important component of a societal commitment to curb and prevent the rise of violent extremism”.

Education is an entry point and a solution to PVE. Because schools can either become places of exclusion and intolerance or they can be places where students learn to “live together” peacefully. Internet is not only a fertile environment for extremist propaganda but it is also a means of promoting dialogue, mutual understanding and tolerance, in particular when it carries fair, unbiased and sensitive reporting”.

The main objectives of the conference were to address the security challenges facing the countries of the world and to unite efforts to counter terrorism, radicalism and violent extremism as the main feeder of instability in many parts of the world. The conference identified trends and challenges of extremism, the role of youth, ideology and information in preventing and combating violent extremism leading to terrorism.